


The strength to force the moment to its crisis

by woolfverse



Series: Woolfverse [12]
Category: Temeraire - Novik
Genre: 1990s, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Arguing, Coming Out, Homophobia, Hopeful Ending, LGBTQ Character, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-28
Updated: 2010-02-28
Packaged: 2017-10-07 14:35:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woolfverse/pseuds/woolfverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will comes out to his parents.  It goes about as well as one would imagine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The strength to force the moment to its crisis

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for homophobia on the part of Will's father.

He went alone, though Tharkay offered to accompany him, and Temeraire seemed quite put out at being asked to stay at home. It was a task Will felt he must see through on his own, tempting though it was to ask someone to keep him company on the long drive up and back (for he did not expect an invitation to stay the night when all was said and done).

"You will be the first to know how it turns out, my dear," he promised Temeraire, once the boy had been convinced his time would be best spent with the English essay he had due next Wednesday. And to Tharkay, on the phone--"Whatever happens, I expect that I will find myself at your door later tonight."

-

His parents' faces were drawn as he entered the lounge the butler had shown him to. While his mother stood immediately to embrace him, his father shook his hand only after an awkward pause.

"Now," Lord Allendale said, when they were settled once more: he and Lady Allendale on the sofa, while Will perched on the edge of an uncomfortably stiff wingback chair. "What is all this about?"

"We are always glad to see you, Will," his mother added, far more gently, "but you must know that your call last night was a surprise. You sounded so grave on the phone."

"As serious as if you were planning to marry," said his father. "Or, in your case, had made another girl pregnant."

His mother set a hand on her husband's forearm. "We would wholly support a marriage, whatever the circumstances. You are at an age where it would be natural to consider such a thing, and we would only like to see you happy."

This entire exchange happened so quickly that Will wondered if they had planned to try and fit it in before he dropped whatever bombshell he had brought with him to Wollaton; he was entirely unable to get a word in edgewise, though he tried several times. When they finally seemed to have finished saying their piece, he shook his head. "I am not here to announce an engagement or a child. Of which I have none in the first place."

"That girl--" Lord Allendale began.

"--is not mine, whatever you may think." Will, feeling that continuing to argue against his parents' beliefs on the matter of Emily Roland would only distract from the issue at hand, took a deep breath. It was time to make clear his intentions. "I asked to see you today to let you know--" and for a moment, his resolve nearly cracked, but he pressed on with only a slight hitch between the words--"that I _have_ met someone. Someone--someone whom I like very much."

A smile bloomed on his mother's face. "Oh, Will, that's wonderful!"

"And," he continued, and here was the most difficult part, but if he could face battle without turning craven, he could face this, "with your permission, I would like to invite him to Christmas."

"Of course, Will, that would be--" and then, with a puzzled look, his words caught up to her. "_Him_?"

His father said nothing, but the expression on his face grew darker and darker as the seconds ticked past. Taking the silence as advantage, Will hurried on. "His name is Tharkay. He is a sports writer--"

"You mean to tell me," Allendale said, his voice dangerously low, "that you're a queer."

All the speeches Will had practiced in the car for the past five hours vanished from his mind; he felt the blood draining from his face. "A--_Father_, I--I'm--" he sputtered, finding himself unable to draw out the words he wanted.

"You're a damned embarrassment, is what you are." One of his father's hands balled into a fist. "You sit here and expect your mother and I to--"

"George," his wife warned him, "shouldn't we let Will finish what he's saying--"

"Finish what he's saying? I'd tan his hide if he was still young enough to be bent over my knee." Allendale puffed out a breath somewhere between a sigh and a harsh, short laugh. "But I imagine he's been doing plenty of bending over in his spare time anyhow."

At that, Will jumped up from his seat. After the fact, he found that he could not bear to repeat the next ten minutes in conversation; he certainly would not speak in detail of it to Temeraire, who would only grow belatedly furious on Will's behalf, without any outlet for his emotions. Even to Tharkay, he could only confide his inability to describe the argument that ensued, his voice breaking at the memory of it.

It ended with Will standing in the centre of the room, his hands shaking as he watched his father stalk out of the room and down the hall, disappearing around a corner. His breath was so loud in his ears that, a few moments after, he nearly missed the sound of his mother's quiet beseeching. "Will, dear, come sit next to me a moment."

Will did as she asked, taking a seat on the opposite end of the sofa from where his father had recently been, and stared hard at the wallpaper. He felt the touch of his mother's hand, warm as it stroked his back, and slowly, his breath quieted.

"Will," she began again, when his hands were no longer clenched, "how long have you--have you felt this way?"

He turned his head, searched her face, but all that was written there was concern; he suddenly felt exhausted and far too old. "Tharkay and I met ten years ago. We dated for a year." Will paused. "I went out with a few other men while I was on active duty. He and I met again by chance a few months ago."

"And..." she trailed off, looking as though she was unsure whether she wanted to ask the question or not. "You're--you're quite certain about...all this? Only, perhaps if you met a woman who was--"

"I am certain," and it was surprisingly easy to say in an even tone, after all the shouting he'd done.

Lady Allendale nodded slowly. "If you're sure, my dear, then--then you have my support, as in all things." There was a long pause; she looked as though she wished to speak, but could not find the words. And, finally, "Will you tell me about--Tharkay, you said his name was?"

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in 1998 and is the third of five stories in a specific story arc. The others are directly before and after this fic.
> 
> It's also one of the hardest things I've written.


End file.
